The present invention relates to a plan generating device and a plan generating method.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-117623, there is disclosed a “schedule planning system capable of schedule adjustment in which an optimum schedule is planned by taking into account production environment changes that change with time”.
In manufacturing industry, a production factory is sometimes built in a market distant from a main factory (hereinafter may also be referred to as “mother factory”) (the distant factory may also be referred to as “child factory” in the following description) in order to respond quickly and flexibly to the needs of a globalized market. The child factory is run with the help of locally employed labor.
Generally speaking, the mother factory often has vast know-how about plan adjustment to a production plan. The child factory, on the other hand, often has little know-how about plan adjustment to a production plan. Putting the mother factory's know-how about adjusting a production plan to use in the child factory's plan adjustment to a production plan is desired in some cases.
For instance, the mother factory may find it difficult to keep a delivery date of a production plan that is generated by a plan generating device. In such cases, the mother factory, which has vast know-how about production plan adjustment, can make an adjustment to the automatically generated production plan that does not give the factory much chance of success in keeping the delivery date so that the delivery date can be kept. The child factory, on the other hand, has little know-how about making a plan adjustment to a production plan and has difficulties in determining what modification is to be made in what quantity to adjust the automatically generated production plan that does not give the factory much chance of success in keeping the delivery date. This is one of cases where putting the mother factory's know-how about adjusting a production plan to use in the child factory's plan adjustment to a production plan may be desired.
However, the mother factory's know-how about adjusting a production plan sometimes cannot be put to use as it is at the child factory due to differences between countries, cultural differences, and the like. For instance, it is difficult to put the know-how about production plan adjustment of the mother factory, where increasing the overtime of workers by a given time period is the way to keep a delivery date, to use as it is at the child factory, where working overtime is not practiced. A way to generate a production plan for the child factory that is suited to the circumstances of the child factory while making use of the mother factory's know-how about adjusting a production plan is therefore waited for.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-117623, there is no disclosure of generating a production plan for the child factory that is suited to the circumstances of the child factory while making use of the mother factory's know-how about adjusting a production plan.